BREAKING NEWS: Teenage Islamic terrorist who groomed man with learning difficulties to carry out Lee Rigby-style attack on British soldier is jailed for eight years
- Kazi Islam used his friend Harry Thomas to buy ingredients for a bomb
- The Old Bailey heard that Mr Thomas, 19, was 'highly impressionable'
- Islam, then 17, referred to the planned bomb in his text messages as 'cake'
Published: 14:47 GMT, 29 May 2015 | Updated: 16:10 GMT, 29 May 2015
Kazi Islam, 19, tried to groom his mentally disabled friend into carrying out a Lee Rigby copycat killing has been jailed for eight years.
A teenage Islamic terrorist who tried to groom his vulnerable friend into carrying out a Lee Rigby copycat killing has been jailed for eight years.
Kazi Islam, then 17, pressured and cajoled 19-year-old Harry Thomas to buy the ingredients for a pipe bomb and to attack one or more British soldiers with a kitchen knife or meat cleaver on his command.
He encouraged the older boy, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and suffers from Asperger's syndrome, to start calling himself Haroon instead of Harry as he attempted to radicalise him with stories of innocent children murdered by military forces.
He hatched the plan after the murder of Fusilier Rigby in Woolwich in 2013.
Islam began scouring the internet for tips on the 'best jihad', dreamt of cooking up Semtex in the bedroom of his parent's home, and used BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp to bully and cajole Thomas into joining his plan.
But Islam's schemes were foiled when Mr Thomas failed to buy any of the right ingredients for a bomb and let slip to 'a few friends' what they were up to.
The defendant, who will serve his sentence in a young offenders institute, denied wrongdoing, saying that he only talked to Mr Thomas about getting the components for a bomb as an 'experiment' in radicalisation.
But following the trial at the Old Bailey, Islam, of Newham, east London, was found guilty of engaging in the preparation of terrorist acts.
Sentencing, judge Richard Marks QC told him that his behaviour towards Mr Thomas was an aggravating feature.
He said: 'Even on your own account, that you knew he was an extremely vulnerable young man, your treatment of him was as callous as it was manipulative.'
Islam is the nephew of Kazi Nurur Rahman, who travelled to Pakistan before dropping out of a training camp with the July 7 bombers.
Rahman was released from prison four years ago after serving half of his nine year sentence for trying to buy Uzi submachine guns and shoulder-launched missiles.
He returned to the terraced property where he had lived in Manor Park, and where Islam was living with his parents and extended family in next door houses.
The Old Bailey heard Islam, now 19, attended seminars and lecturers by Anjem Choudary's banned Al Muhajiroun group.
He downloaded gruesome ISIS videos, recipes for explosives, and Al Qaeda magazines, while searching online for extremist material and bomb making manuals.
Islam, left, tried to persuade 19-year-old Harry Thomas to buy the ingredients for a pipe bomb and to attack one or more British soldiers with a kitchen knife or meat cleaver on his command
Islam began exploiting Thomas's vulnerability in October 2013 when Thomas messaged him to say his girlfriend had 'dumped' him.
While pretending to sympathise and chatting about girls, Islam 'took the opportunity to quickly twist the conversation towards religion,' Annabel Darlow QC told the Old Bailey.
Over many months, Islam 'carefully groomed' Thomas, flattering him when he appeared willing to do his bidding and bullying, threatening and nagging him when he 'didn't seem to be dancing to Islam's tune' Ms Darlow said.
Thomas was a vulnerable, lonely and 'not particularly bright' young man who was desperate to impress Islam and to try to forge some sort of friendship with him, Miss Darlow said.
'Islam ruthlessly exploited to the utmost Thomas's vulnerability and obvious wish to try and ingratiate himself with Islam,' she added.
'You may think that Mr Islam is a hardened, ruthless and manipulative individual, old beyond his years, who has an uncanny ability to sniff out and make use of the vulnerable in society for his own interests.'
He applied 'liberal encouragement' to Thomas to murder a British soldier, inciting and stirring him up with stories about the murder of innocent children by the military forces and referring 'glowingly and approvingly' to the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich, Miss Darlow said.
During the same period Islam also sought to radicalise at least three other young people and told one friend he was planning to leave Britain for Syria, asking another 'would you suicide bomb yourself?'
The Old Bailey, pictured, heard that Islam spent several months trying to groom Mr Thomas
'There can be not the slightest doubt that this is a man who idolised violent conflict against the West,' Miss Darlow said, and that 'you have got to go out and engage in violence to reach the ranks of martyrs.'
Islam raised the subject of the Woolwich attack on December 20 2013, asking Thomas: 'If the war doesn't stop there should be another killing. Get a meat cleaver or a kitchen knife. Would you carry out another attack?'
At first Thomas did not understand, then he replied: 'I don't agree with what Cameron's doing. I think it's sick. I would kill a solider coz they're scum.'
Islam told him: 'Well done Harry, I'm glad you understand mate. I'm proud of you.'
Ill-conceived efforts to get Thomas to refer to use 'cake' as a code for the bomb went over the other man's head.
'Cake? You mean the b-o-m-b?' Thomas said. 'After we done the 'b' r we gonna kll a soldier with a k i f e?'
But Islam's plans started to go wrong after Thomas began telling his friends.
'Don't tell anyone you p***k. Are you mental? D'you wanna go to jail. The brothers are gonna come after me and kill me and they're gonna kill u as well.'
When officers raided Thomas's home in August last year after arresting Islam they found no incriminating evidence and he was not arrested or charged.'
Judge Marks QC said: 'Of course the holding of radicalised views is not in itself a criminal offence, but the jury clearly took the view your involvement in this area went substantially further than that', said the judge.
Islam tried to cover up the bomb plot by using the euphemism 'cake' instead of explosives
'Your intention was an incendiary device of some sort should be made and detonated for terrorist purposes and the instructions you gave to Harry Thomas about killing a soldier should be carried out.
'You sought to involve several individuals, you persisted in this over a period of months.
'It's also right to observe that the pre-sentence report in your case does not make very happy reading, and it's clear from that you have shown neither remorse or insight into the seriousness of that which you were involved.'
At the same time, Islam was sending sexually explicit text messages to several young women
He said Mr Thomas was 'plainly both vulnerable and isolated' and described in court as a 'loner'.
'You befriended him and then you, over a period of three to four months, were in frequent contact with him, in the course of which you persistently instructed and encouraged him to purchase items needed to make an explosive device', said the judge.
'The principle objective being for a pipe bomb to be made. You also asked him if he had heard about the Woolwich killings.'
Islam, sporting a side parting and with a fledgling beard grown since the trial, sat with his head bowed throughout the judge's sentencing remarks, glancing briefly to his family when the sentence was passed.
Islam met Mr Thomas when they were studying together at Barking and Dagenham College in 2012 and 2013.
From October 2013 until his arrest in July last year, Islam sent him a string of messages urging him to 'get the ingredients' for an improvised pipe bomb.
He asked him to buy metal caps, pipes, hydrogen peroxide, glue, and fireworks with black powder, over several months as they plotted together.
In December, a curious Thomas asked: 'who r we gonna blow up?' and Islam refused to say over texts, replying: 'I'll tell you wen I see you.'
When his friend appeared to be wavering, Islam insisted: 'Make the cake asap... if we don't there will be more killings.'
Islam claimed 'the brothers are pestering me' when Thomas struggled to find the right ingredients, and in December 2013 turned his attentions to murdering a soldier.
He even tried to convince Thomas to change his name to Haroun to make it sound more Arabic.
On December 23, Islam was talking to Thomas about buying components for a pipe bomb and messaging another girl about sex with her, referring to his 'sausage.'
When Islam was arrested, counter terrorism police found a cache of extremist documents, magazines and videos on his phones and home computer in Manor Park, east London.
He had Googled terms including 'what is the best jihad', 'suicide bomber' and 'how big was 7/7 explosion', as well as looking up the potential blast range of different bombs.
He had also researched Anjem Choudhary, Rigby killer Michael Adebolajo, and former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg.
When Islam was arrested, counter terrorism police found a cache of extremist documents, magazines and videos on his phones and home computer in Manor Park, east London
Islam had downloaded Inspire, the Al Qaeda fanzine, as well as the indictment of a convicted American terrorist, but tried to pass it off to the jury as 'curiosity'.
'He sought to use a vulnerable and impressionable young man with mental health difficulties', said prosecutor Ms Darlow QC.
'The defendant carefully groomed Mr Thomas over many months, flattering him when he appeared willing to do his bidding and bullying him with implied threats of what people associated with him would do if he didn't carry out his wishes when he didn't appear to be going according to plan.
'During the same time period, Kazi Islam carried out research on the internet for information which could assist him in the construction of an explosive device.
'He also applied liberal encouragement to Thomas to murder a British soldier, inciting him with stories about the murder of innocent children by the military forces and referring approvingly to the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich.'
Peter Lownds, defending, said Islam had turned 18 and 'matured' by the time he was arrested.
The court heard that Islam had become 'estranged' from his family but Mr Lownds said he had later returned home and came from a 'loving and supportive family who are very worried and confused by these events.'
'This was close to being a bedroom jihadi, discussions rather than any progress made on these plans', he said.
'There was never any obtained for the bomb, never significant discussions of a plot, and never any dry run.'
Islam's family looked on from the public gallery during the sentencing hearing, and Mr Lownds added: ''The timing of these events, of him attending meetings with proscribed organisations and entering these discussions, preceded the point at which he obtained a job, was living at home, and was attending the job every day.
'There is no estrangement now.'
TEENAGE TERRORIST PESTERED GIRLS FOR SEX WHILE PLOTTING ATTACK
At the same time as grooming his former classmate to launch a terrorist attack, Kazi Islam was sending a series of sexually explicit text massages to young women he barely knew.
The messages asked the girls whether they were prepared to perform a variety of sex acts and when they refused he tried to goad them into it.
If they began a discussion on Blackberry Messenger, he would instantly ask for their phone number. The youngest girl said she was just 13.
Most of the messages were direct and to the point but in one message he referred euphemistically to his 'sausage.'
Islam, who was 17 at the time, sent a message to a number of young women that it was 'National Shagging Day' to see who would reply.
When one of them did, he told her she was 'very pretty' and asked why she was single.
'Because I'm a lesbian,' the girl replied, to which he responded: 'You don't look it.'
Four days later Islam sent her a highly explicit message about a sex act, adding, when she turned him down: 'OK you won't get pregnant though.'
Islam messaged Harry Thomas on December 20 2013: 'When I give the order, I want you to kill a soldier…2 soldiers…Not yet though.'
But at the same time as discussing the Woolwich attacks with Thomas, he was flirting with another girl telling her she was 'cute.'
As the conversation about buying bomb-making chemicals continued with Thomas the next day, Islam sent the young woman an explicit message about a sex act.
Two days later, on December 23, Islam was talking to Thomas about buying components for a pipe bomb and messaging another girl about sex with her, referring to his 'sausage.'
On December 26 he wrote another explicit message to a fourth girl and begged her for her phone number, at the same time asking Thomas to buy hydrogen peroxide for bomb-making. He then returned to messaging the third girl, asking to meet up.
'Plainly there are conversations of a sexual nature on a number of occasions shortly before, during or after conversations with Mr Thomas,' Peter Lownds, defending said.
